In response to end-user demand, the computer industry has continually reduced the size of computer components while increasing the capabilities of the components. As the size of computer components decreases and the computing power of these components increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to transfer heat away from the components at an adequate rate. As a result, some components can overheat and fail. In other cases, the speed and/or other operating parameters of the components can become limited by the inability to reject heat from the components at a rapid enough rate.
One approach to addressing the foregoing problems has been to use heat transfer devices to accelerate the rate at which heat is rejected from computer components. For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, a module assembly. 10a in accordance with the prior art can include a printed circuit board 11 which carries two packaged chips 12. Heat spreaders 13 are attached to each side of the printed circuit board 11 proximate to the packaged chips 12. A thermally conductive gap filler 14 is disposed between each heat spreader 13 and the adjacent packaged chip 12. Accordingly, the heat spreaders 13 can provide additional surface area (beyond that of the packaged chips 12 themselves) by which to convectively remove heat from the packaged chips 12. Devices such as those shown in FIG. 1A are available from Rambus of Los Altos, Calif.
One potential drawback with the device shown in FIG. 1A is that the heat spreaders 13 alone may not be adequate to cool the packaged chips 12 at a rapid enough rate. One approach to addressing this potential drawback is to add a finned heat sink to the module assembly 10a. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, a module assembly 10b in accordance with another aspect of the prior art includes two heat sinks 15, one disposed adjacent to each of the heat spreaders 13. The heat spreaders 13 are positioned adjacent to the packaged chips 12 (as indicated by arrows A), the heat sinks 15 are positioned against the heat spreaders 13 (as indicated by arrows B), and a clip 16 is disposed around the module assembly 10b (as indicated by arrow C) to keep the components in close thermal contact with each other.
One drawback with the module assembly 10b shown in FIG. 1B is that the fins of the heat sinks 15 can preclude spacing adjacent module assemblies 10b close to each other and can therefore make it difficult to decrease the size of the computer or other electronic device into which the module assemblies 10 are installed. Another drawback is that the relatively large number of components included in each module assembly 10b can make assembling the module 10b a time consuming process, and can reduce the thermal continuity between one component and the next.